leftovers

It's my 15th Annual Top 10 Songs Countdown here on my otherwise pretty dormant blog! This was a year of huge change for me. The year started with a big focus on my work. Two years of the pandemic, with lots of isolation and uncertainty had taken a toll and it seemed like the time was right to start looking for change. I had a couple of big milestones in this pursuit, traveling to New York City in May to complete a leadership program that had begun just weeks after the initial Covid-19 lockdown. In June I attended a conference in Reno where I told anyone who was listening that I was looking for a new job, and on the last day of the conference I had my first, virtual, interview with a company I was very interested in working for. The day before my birthday, I took an hour-long flight for an in-person interview, and before I got on the plane back home, I was offered the job. By mid-July, I had already moved six hours north of Los Angeles to the state capital, Sacramento, although it w

For those of you who aren't familiar, Heaven 17 is a British synth-pop group that had success in the early 80's; members included two of the founders of another famous British synth-pop band, The Human League. Those who know me, my love for early 80's new-wave and synth-pop often mistakenly assume that I like any and all bands that fall into this category. Those who know me well know that this is not true! While I've come to appreciate and even like certain parts of their catalogs, bands like Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, Soft Cell and New Order just haven't really appealed to me. My relationship with Heaven 17 has been even more complicated. As a lifelong Human League devotee, I have always been aware of Heaven 17, although their music was never as prevalent in the US as songs like "Don't You Want Me," "(Keep Feeling) Fascination," and "Human." In fact, for years, I only knew who Heaven 17 was but hadn't really heard any of thei